Foldable iPhone

[Wotchered]

No, ,bugrit , no !

 

[anon(50597)]

Many of us here had the Motorola StarTac back in the mid-90’s and loved it. It was a smash hit for the company and in my use case, very practical. It was always with me and kept securely in its holster. With that being said, it was not a “smartphone”. I didn’t watch videos on it or make video calls. I didn’t take photos or store music on it. It was merely a mobile phone.

Fast forward to today. I’ve played around with Samsung’s foldable phone while visiting a Best Buy store and I’ve seen the ads on TV. Unless Apple can make the iPhone the width of a toothpick, I’m not sure I’d be interested in a foldable iPhone.

With the Motorola StarTac, you flipped it open, dial a phone number, held the device to your ear and you talked to the person you called. Its design was arguably perfect for phone calls. Looking at the Samsung ads, I know I’m not going want to watch videos when the phone is folded and the screen is at half its size. I’m not going to want to text someone as if I’m using an old T-mobile Sidekick for those of you who remember it from the early 2000’s.

It’s easy for “me” to agree right now that a foldable phone seems more gimmicky than practical.

Yup, for me I wouldn't use it as intended. For tens of millions of others with different usage needs, who knows.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Hard pass on a foldable phone.

Now if I started using my iPad w/LTE I’d probably do away with iPhone.

 

[anon(50597)]

Hard pass on a foldable phone.

Now if I started using my iPad w/LTE I’d probably do away with iPhone.

And go with no phone or move to something else?

 

[FFR]

Many of us here had the Motorola StarTac back in the mid-90’s and loved it. It was a smash hit for the company and in my use case, very practical. It was always with me and kept securely in its holster. With that being said, it was not a “smartphone”. I didn’t watch videos on it or make video calls. I didn’t take photos or store music on it. It was merely a mobile phone.

Fast forward to today. I’ve played around with Samsung’s foldable phone while visiting a Best Buy store and I’ve seen the ads on TV. Unless Apple can make the iPhone the thickness of a toothpick, I’m not sure I’d be interested in a foldable iPhone.

With the Motorola StarTac, you flipped it open, dialed a phone number, held the device to your ear and you talked to the person you called. Its design was arguably perfect for phone calls. Looking at the Samsung ads, I know I’m not going want to watch videos when the phone is folded and the screen is at half its size. I’m not going to want to text someone as if I’m using an old T-mobile Sidekick for those of you who remember it from the early 2000’s.

It’s easy for “me” to agree right now that a foldable phone seems more gimmicky than practical.

Those startacs were crazy expensive at the time, the first ones had lousy batteries but at least you could always carry a spare.

Are the ads really showcasing consumers only using half a screen.

 

[Lee_Bo]

And go with no phone or move to something else?

If my iPad would function as an 11.5” iPhone then it’s all I’d use.

 

[anon(50597)]

If my iPad would function as an 11.5” iPhone then it’s all I’d use.

You would need some big pockets.

 

[Up_And_Away]

Samsung is a very solid name brand, no doubt. They lost me on TVs for a bit but they’ve fixed that. I’ve had some refrigerator issues but overall buying Samsung almost always means good quality.
And no doubt Samsung personal electronics division wants to be like Apple. Imho Samsung is smart in that they see what Apple does then tries to mimic it. (Apple haters plug your ears for this truth) Everyone wants to be like Apple, full stop. Apple’s brand name and iconic cachet, with customer loyalty and retention being gaudy but its financial success is hysterically gaudy. Everyone is basically in last place compared to Apple’s financial success. But even beyond that Apple has the ace card, own’s the mountain top, is in a class by itself because it has near complete vertical integration control to make highly efficient devices within an ecosystem. This is a titanic advantage for Apple. Samsung is probably the closest to that (maybe Google) but they are a very VERY distant second place.
I say all that to say Samsung “trying” to be like Apple for premium market share should be called Project Failure. I could go on and on about why (my posts are frequently too long to start with ) but the one huge reason is the different markets. Tech channels love to clamor Samsung phone vs IPhone (or the more comical ‘X phone’ is the next iPhone killer). Wrong! It’s made up clickbait. Samsung’s is a specific market, Android phones. Switchers between IOS and Android are small, far too little to shift a market. But in the Android market Samsung has big competition. They even have the damn OS maker trying to make a Google ecosystem. Samsung is always going to struggle to keep sales numbers in the premium market while forced by competition to go thinner margins (unsustainable business model). That ain’t being Apple and IMHO the Android market dynamics doesn’t really have the space for an Apple. On top of that, Apple has a very narrow focus of products that allow it to keep the entire culture focused. Samsung is a maker of nearly everything. Yes, They will be split into divisions but that still means a culture that cannot copy Apple, it’s just not possible.
I say good luck to Samsung on the folds/flips. Ironically their sales would be most positively effected by Apple offering a fold/flip. What Apple does, often so goes the overall industry. But as I opined before, flip/folds is a solution in search of a problem, trading off a number of things that are the basis for the existing phone market. Project Failure.

 

[Up_And_Away]

The retractable Iphad! (I’m betting in 2 to 3 years this will hit the rumor mill of “Apple working on a retractable IPhone and IPad called the Iphad. ).

 

[FFR]

Samsung is a very solid name brand, no doubt. They lost me on TVs for a bit but they’ve fixed that. I’ve had some refrigerator issues but overall buying Samsung almost always means good quality.
And no doubt Samsung personal electronics division wants to be like Apple. Imho Samsung is smart in that they see what Apple does then tries to mimic it. (Apple haters plug your ears for this truth) Everyone wants to be like Apple, full stop. Apple’s brand name and iconic cachet, with customer loyalty and retention being gaudy but its financial success is hysterically gaudy. Everyone is basically in last place compared to Apple’s financial success. But even beyond that Apple has the ace card, own’s the mountain top, is in a class by itself because it has near complete vertical integration control to make highly efficient devices within an ecosystem. This is a titanic advantage for Apple. Samsung is probably the closest to that (maybe Google) but they are a very VERY distant second place.
I say all that to say Samsung “trying” to be like Apple for premium market share should be called Project Failure. I could go on and on about why (my posts are frequently too long to start with ) but the one huge reason is the different markets. Tech channels love to clamor Samsung phone vs IPhone (or the more comical ‘X phone’ is the next iPhone killer). Wrong! It’s made up clickbait. Samsung’s is a specific market, Android phones. Switchers between IOS and Android are small, far too little to shift a market. But in the Android market Samsung has big competition. They even have the damn OS maker trying to make a Google ecosystem. Samsung is always going to struggle to keep sales numbers in the premium market while forced by competition to go thinner margins (unsustainable business model). That ain’t being Apple and IMHO the Android market dynamics doesn’t really have the space for an Apple. On top of that, Apple has a very narrow focus of products that allow it to keep the entire culture focused. Samsung is a maker of nearly everything. Yes, They will be split into divisions but that still means a culture that cannot copy Apple, it’s just not possible.
I say good luck to Samsung on the folds/flips. Ironically their sales would be most positively effected by Apple offering a fold/flip. What Apple does, often so goes the overall industry. But as I opined before, flip/folds is a solution in search of a problem, trading off a number of things that are the basis for the existing phone market. Project Failure.

Apple and project failure.

 

[anon(50597)]

I say good luck to Samsung on the folds/flips. Ironically their sales would be most positively effected by Apple offering a fold/flip. What Apple does, often so goes the overall industry. But as I opined before, flip/folds is a solution in search of a problem, trading off a number of things that are the basis for the existing phone market. Project Failure.

Sales of flips/folds have, I believe, increased with every new model. Why? I'm not sure but people like them. Probably because they're not just another boring slab in a different color. I give them credit for innovating. We need more of that.

 

[FFR]

Innovation translates into sales, gimmicks unfortunately do not sell very well.

Absurdly fat gimmicks that have a crease down the middle of the screen, sell even less.

 

[anon(50597)]

The fun thing is we get to sit back and see what happens. It doesn't hurt any of us.

 

[FFR]

 

[anon(50597)]

You and your memes.

You have too much time on your hands.

 

[FFR]

You and your memes.

You have too much time on your hands.

A couple of seconds at most.

 

[Up_And_Away]

Don’t get me wrong, there is likely a market out there for a fold (there’s also a smaller “market” for hyper cooled gaming phones). Not every use case is precisely the same across the phone market. But sales increasing doesn’t equate even remotely close to changing the market or, as was stated and I responded to, being 50% of Samsung phone sales. As an example, Apple’s sales in India are increasing! every! year!. So obviously Apple is one of the big successes in India? Ahem. Or Google Pixel sales are increasing! every! Year! They’re a big success in the market? Not unsuccessful but let’s put it this way, Google still categorizes pixel sales as “other” (despite Google, ahem, based YouTube tech channels every year hyping them, some as the IPhone! Killer! Comical).

Part of this game is marketing and hype. Get increasing sales immediately! An unfortunate, imho, part of that marketing is YT tech channels hyping the marketing. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a way for a big company’s marketing to get those YT tech channels to hype anything? Hmmm, naaa . (Already Queued for 2023 YT tech channels: OMG! This the flip/fold is Amazing! I’m switching to it! [but please skip 2022 and 2021 flip/fold review videos where they were also Amazing!] Unfortunately these channels hold too much power, power that ever more infrequently is not serving the consumers]).

 

[anon(50597)]

Don’t get me wrong, there is likely a market out there for a fold (there’s also a smaller “market” for hyper cooled gaming phones). Not every use case is precisely the same across the phone market. But sales increasing doesn’t equate even remotely close to changing the market or, as was stated and I responded to, being 50% of Samsung phone sales. As an example, Apple’s sales in India are increasing! every! year!. So obviously Apple is one of the big successes in India? Ahem. Or Google Pixel sales are increasing! every! Year! They’re a big success in the market? Not unsuccessful but let’s put it this way, Google still categorizes pixel sales as “other” (despite Google, ahem, based YouTube tech channels every year hyping them, some as the IPhone! Killer! Comical).

Part of this game is marketing and hype. Get increasing sales immediately! An unfortunate, imho, part of that marketing is YT tech channels hyping the marketing. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a way for a big company’s marketing to get those YT tech channels to hype anything? Hmmm, naaa . (Already Queued for 2023 YT tech channels: OMG! This the flip/fold is Amazing! I’m switching to it! [but please skip 2022 and 2021 flip/fold review videos where they were also Amazing!] Unfortunately these channels hold too much power, power that ever more infrequently is not serving the consumers]).

Increasing sales is a trend. You are correct the end result may not be 50% as Samsung is hoping. It does show progress and, most likely, what customers may be accepting.

 

[pr1nce]

I’m not interested in a flip or foldable phone.

 

[Up_And_Away]

Maybe, only the future will tell the tale. But 4 years of ultra hype (lead by one of the biggest names out there) equaling a sliver of the market, even an annually increasing sliver? Not sure how that is a sign of a ground shift in the market.